I remember seeing clips of this film in Piers Morgan's Life Stories, during which they discussed that the two leads did not get on during filming, but they have worked together a few times since, and I became interested in watching it. Basically, set in the 1930s, at Eton College, a boys' public school in Eton, Berkshire, Guy Bennett (BAFTA nominated Rupert Everett) and Tommy Judd (Colin Firth) are pupils. They are friends and both outsiders in their own ways, because Bennett is gay, and Judd is a Marxist. One day, a teacher walks in on Martineau (Philip Dupuy) and a boy from another house masturbating each other. The teachers and the senior pupils want the scandal to stay secret from the parents and the outside world, and Martineau subsequently hangs himself. The gay scandal however gives the army-obsessed house Captain Fowler (Tristan Oliver), who hates Bennett and Judd, a reason to scheme against them. He wants to stop Bennett from becoming a top prefect, or a "God" as pupils refer to it. Bennett is open about his homosexuality with fellow students and believes James Harcourt (Cary Elwes) to be his first love. Fowler gets hold of a love note from Bennett to Harcourt, which is given to teachers, and Bennett agrees to be punished with a caning, to avoid Harcourt also facing punishment. Previously, Bennett had avoided punishment by blackmailing the other "Lords", threatening to reveal their own experiences with him. Meanwhile, Judd is reluctant to become a prefect, he does not participate in what he considered the oppression of school traditions. He makes a memorable, bitter speech about how the boys oppressed by the system grow up to be the fathers who maintain it. Eventually, however, he agrees to become a prefect to prevent the hateful Fowler from becoming Head of House. But this does happen as Donald Devenish (Rupert Wainwright) agrees to stay at school and stops Bennett from becoming a prefect. Devastated at the loss of his cherished dream of becoming a "God", Bennett comes to realise that the British class system strongly relies on outward appearance and that being openly gay is a severe hindrance if he intends to become a diplomat. Years later, Bennett defected to Russia and became a spy for the Soviet Union, while Judd died fighting in the Spanish Civil War; the elderly Bennett, living in Moscow, tells his story to American journalist Julia Schofield (Betsy Brantley). Also starring Michael Jenn as Barclay, Robert Addie as Delahay, Rupert Wainwright as Devenish, and Anna Massey as Imogen Bennett. Everett could have had a much bigger career, he gives a splendid performance as the gay public schoolboy who later in life became a spy, and there is good support from Firth and Elwes. I'm not going to pretend I was paying the fullest attention, but I got the main point of the film was to show how being gay in school at the time was punishable which is disgraceful, it has terrific cinematography, an interesting drama. It was nominated the BAFTAs Film Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Editing. Rupert Everett was number 39 and Colin Firth number 9 on The 50 Greatest British Actors. Good!
Review of Another Country
